As I write this on Sunday morning, this story is the most-read news article on the Santa Rosa Press Democrat website.

BUT, not a single one of these wineries has the good news on their websites (either on the home page, or on the "news" page of their site). People are reading the news, searching for the winery on Google, visiting their home page, and finding...nothing.

(Update: as of 8AM Monday, 9/26, Wilson Winery has updated their home page.)

Consider the lost PR value of this oversight. It happens once a year -- you'd think people might plan for it. And yes, it's a weekend, but last time I looked, wineries are open for business on the weekends.

To their credit, Wilson Winery and Gloria Ferrer have updates on their respective Facebook pages (here and here), but unfortunately, these updates will only appear in the news streams of people who already Like them, and will disappear fairly quickly in the news stream.

September 22, 2011

Still not 100% sure about what SEO is? This quick video from Common Craft is a good introduction.

Of course, your chances of ranking highly for a general search phrase like Pinot Noir are low. But you probably want to rank highly for searches that associate your winery (e.g. Kosta Browne Pinot Noir) and/or region (e.g. Russian River Pinot Noir) with a particular varietal.

Another example: V. Sattui recognizes that they are a popular picnic spot, and has optimized their site for searches relating to winery picnic.

If you don't know the top 3-5 search terms that bring visitors to your winery, talk to your Webmaster. Then take a look for yourself at where your site appears in the results when you type those phrases into Google. If you're not happy with the outcome, it's time to tackle SEO for your winery website.